We stayed at the Continental Hotel, which is convenient as it is located across the street from the Aghlabids pools, where the city's tourist office is located. Just go up to the terrace of the tourist office to get a good view of the pools, which were unfortunately being treated when we came.

After paying the entrance fee (12 DT) to the various medieval sites of Kairouan: The Aghlabid Basins, the Great Mosque, the Okba Mosque, the zaouïa of Sidi Abid el-Ghariani, Abi Zâmaa and Sidi Amor Abada and the Museum of Islamic Art of Raqqada, we went to the Great Mosque on foot.

I absolutely wanted to visit one of the highest spiritual places of Islam since this mosque was built only in 48 of the Hegira calendar (670 AD). The building that we admire now dates from 836 AD and served as a model for many other mosques. I was afraid of being swept away by a swirling crowd of pilgrims, but it was not the case: no one was there. The central courtyard is accessible provided that the bare legs of these gentlemen are hidden under a square of cloth lent at the entrance and a hijab for the ladies on their heads. The staircase in the courtyard where Muslim women take pictures (The photo here) has no technical use. Its flight of steps would be symbolic because it leads nowhere except infinity, a theme that Islamic geometric patterns take up on ceramic tiles: these patterns have no end (As on the floor in the photo of the Zaouia below). If you have eagle eyes, you can take a look into the prayer hall and see the mihrab and minbar (9th century PC) in the distance in the darkness.

Leaving the zaouia of Sidi Abid el-Ghariani, we were approached by a so-called guide who got us a little lost in the medina, which was not unpleasant, and he showed us something interesting away from the tourist circuits, which allowed me to check the box of the Universal intangible cultural heritage "Henna: rituals, aesthetics and social practice". According to this pseudo-guide, the great mosque would not be the first mosque built in Kairouan, it is the Al Ansari mosque or Lemhennia (47 of the Hegira). Lemhennia means: "which is covered in henna". Young women come to place their hands coated in henna on the surrounding walls to bring them luck and fertility. This ritual would find its basis in a legend which claims that the Prophet himself rested at night or in a dream at this precise place. This mosque is not listed in any guidebook and you must be accompanied by a Kairouan resident to find it.

The zaouias are quite similar, they have this particular and magnificent feature that they combine the decorative arts of Turkish-inspired mosaic (Iznik) with Hispano-Moorish sculpted stucco, colored glass and the famous Kairouan carpets on the floor.

Although not a must-see for those who don't have a car, the Raqqada Museum of Islamic Art is worth seeing as it's a perfect complement to a visit to the medina. It mainly exhibits beautiful decorative art pieces made of wood, stucco, ceramics, glass, etc. A beautiful bronze lantern pierced with a hundred small holes forms a star on the ground by projecting light and shadow, and three texts, including "Blessing" are highlighted. It comes from the Great Mosque and dates from the 11th century.